Checking Out and Returning Assets

AssetSync → Checkouts is where assets leave the building and come back. It is organized by event, not by item — each card is one event, holding everything that went out for it.

The exception is a checkout given neither a wedding nor an event label. Those all collect in a single shared card called Unlinked Event, regardless of when or why they went out, so it is worth naming the event when you check something out.

The four columns

Upcoming — checkouts dated in the future.

Active — out now, not yet past their return date.

Overdue — past their expected return date and still out.

Recently Returned — closed within the last seven days. Older completed events drop off the board entirely; their history stays on each asset's record.

Each card shows the event name, the date the first item went out, how many items it holds, and — on the three open columns — how many have come back so far.

A card also carries an amber "N units not returned" line when a check-in has left a shortage behind. That is specifically about units that failed to come back from a partial return, not about items simply still out: an event where nothing has been returned yet shows no such line.

Naming the event

A checkout can be linked to a wedding, or given a free-text event label, or both. When it is linked to a wedding, the card shows the couple's name — so if the label was typed early and the booking has since changed hands, the card follows the wedding record rather than the stale text.

Creating a checkout

New Checkout takes an asset, a quantity, an event, an expected return date, and optional notes.

The event can be a wedding, an EventSync event if you have that module, or a free-text event label. Picking a wedding or an event clears the other, so a checkout belongs to one booking rather than two.

Availability is checked at the moment you submit, against the live record rather than the list you were looking at — so a checkout someone else made in the last minute is caught. If you ask for more than is available, the checkout is refused and tells you how many there are.

For several assets at once, select them in the Inventory list and check them out together. For a bundle you send out repeatedly, use an asset set.

Inside an event

Opening a card shows four figures across the top:

Qty Checked Out — the total units this event took. Returned — how many have come back. Still Out — the difference. % Complete — returned over checked out.

Below that, STILL OUT lists what has not come back, and RETURNED lists what has, with the condition it came back in.

Each outstanding row has a quantity, a condition selector, and Check In. Progress saves as you go — a load-in that takes two days does not need to be finished in one sitting.

Add Item adds something to the event that was not part of the original checkout.

Availability while items are out

Checking an asset out reduces its available quantity; checking it back in restores it. You never adjust availability by hand — AssetSync recalculates it from the checkout ledger every time something moves.

This is why an unreturned checkout is worth chasing even when the items are physically back: to the system they are still out, and the asset will read as unavailable for the next event.

Overdue

A checkout becomes overdue the day after its expected return date, if it has not been checked in — an item due back Saturday is on time all of Saturday. It moves to the Overdue column, raises an OVERDUE RETURN alert on the AssetSync dashboard, and — if Overdue emails are on under Settings → Notifications — goes into the daily alert email.

In the run-up to the return date, items show Due soon in amber. How far ahead is the Return Reminder under Settings → Checkout Policies; turning off Auto-Mark Overdue there stops overdue flagging altogether.

New checkouts start with an expected return date already filled in — today plus the Default Checkout Duration. A checkout with the date cleared is never overdue.